housing

Editor's Note: We are sharing Denise Resnik's powerful blog about a new housing model for adults with disabilities. Denise's blog originally appeared on Home Matters.

Thankfully, much has changed since we were told to plan to institutionalize our son Matt 23 years ago when he was doagnosed with autism-–and yet, much still needs to change to respond to the housing demand at our doorstep.

Matt represents a generation of more than 500,000 U.S. children with autism entering adulthood this decade. In many ways, I’ve been planning for what happens when the school bus stops coming almost from the first day it arrived. Where will he live? How will he be safe? How can we be sure he’ll be happy, healthy, productive and not sliding backwards?

If you have been following The New Normal, or mainstream media, or even happened to do a web search on July 26th when the “Google Doodle” commemorated this day in history, you undoubtedly already know that we've recently marked the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

What could it look like if the Jewish community writ large created a Disabilities Act to address the rights of the 20 percent of American Jews who have a disability?

True, we often bemoan the fact that the Jewish community lags behind when it comes to “equal rights” for people with and without disabilities. But 25 years is not a long time in the history of our country, and an even shorter amount of time in the history of the Jewish people. With that in mind, I choose optimism: There is time for us to catch up!

We have all heard the phrase, "It takes a village to raise a child.” Some attribute it to an African proverb, though there appears to be some controversy about that. The phrase itself has become shopworn, utilized by elected officials, pundits and others.

State judge rules that Broadway Triangle project would favor chasidic families and is discriminatory by design.

01/09/2012 - 19:00

Adam Dickter

Assistant Managing Editor

The planned Broadway Triangle affordable housing project was designed to be full of multi-room apartments in buildings no higher than eight stories — perfect for chasidic families with many children, who can’t use an elevator on Shabbat or holidays.